961. The Message of Hebrews

There are some significant elements in the book of Hebrews that's actually shrouded in mystery. It's a mysterious book, but what it has to say to us is not only clear, but the value for the Christian today is significant because it was written especially for those who are struggling with their faith and are on the brink of giving up and turning away. The book of Hebrews was written for spiritual apathy and it is an antidote for those who are drifting.

So what does Hebrews do? It lifts us up to theological heights and then it hurls us down to practical depths. What we see is the privilege of being a Christian today and the fearful judgment of falling away.

If you walk away from Jesus Christ with all that has been given to you, your judgment on the Judgment Day will be far greater than those who've never had the privilege to hear the gospel. Today on The Daily Platform, Dr. Steve Pettit, longtime evangelist and now president of Bob Jones University, will begin a study series entitled Run the Race, which is a study of Hebrews 12. Let's now listen to today's message where Steve will walk us through an introduction to the book of Hebrews. Would you please take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 1.

Our theme this semester is taken out of the 12th chapter of the book of Hebrews and the theme is found in verse 1 of Hebrews 12, which is entitled Run the Race. But as we begin, it is very important that we take just a few moments to establish the overall big picture of the setting and the style of the writing of this magnificent book, the book of Hebrews. It is obviously a message from God and there are some significant elements in the book of Hebrews that's actually shrouded in mystery. It's a mysterious book for a number of reasons. First of all, the author is unknown. We don't know who wrote it. Where it was written from, its location is unknown. And the group of believers to whom the letter was written is also unknown. So there is a mystery to the book, but the message is not vague at all. It is very clear. One writer said that Hebrews is considered the most extensively developed and logically sustained piece of theological argumentation in the whole of the New Testament. If you've ever read the book of Hebrews, you know its depth and its clarity. And what it has to say to us is not only clear, but the value for the Christian today is significant.

Because it was written especially for those who are struggling with their faith and are on the brink of giving up and turning away. This summer in the evangelical world, there was a stunning announcement that came from a gentleman named Joshua Harris. Who is Josh Harris? He grew up in the Pacific Northwest.

He was homeschooled. In 1997, at the age of 20 years old, he wrote a bestseller called, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. The central thesis of the book is that Christians have been flirting with disaster by their involvement in the dating culture. It was a bestseller.

1.2 million books sold. In 2004, he became the lead pastor of a mega church outside of Washington DC. In 2015, he left his church and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia to get some theological training because he said at the time that he had actually, he had lived effectively backwards. He had gone into ministry before he received any theological education.

In 2016, he released a statement in which he apologized to those he described as Kurt by the purity culture and the approach that was taken in I Kissed Dating Goodbye. And this past summer, 2019, he announced that he was going through a divorce from his wife and ultimately he announced a divorce from his faith. He had undergone a massive shift in regard to his faith. He said, and I quote, the popular phrase for this is deconstruction. The biblical phrase is falling away.

By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am NOT a Christian. And those who heard his words were absolutely stunned. The book of Hebrews was written for this kind of an issue. And it is an antidote for spiritual apathy and for those who are drifting. So let's begin this morning by looking at two very important features in the book of Hebrews. First of all, the setting. What was going on during the time of its writing? And secondly, the style. How was it written or what was the writer's approach?

We'll begin first of all with the setting. As I previously mentioned, the destination of the letter and its recipients were unknown. Yet in light of the author's mention in chapter 13 and verse 24 of Italy, some scholars believe it was written to Jewish believers living in Rome. Now with this in mind, there are some important facts that we can observe about those who receive the letter. Number one, these believers must have been very well acquainted with the entire Old Testament. I mean, you can't read the book of Hebrews and not see that it's filled with Old Testament subjects.

Therefore, the recipients would have understood that. For example, there are angels and Moses in the temple, the priesthood, the high priests, even a man named Melchizedek, the sacrificial system, Old Testament heroes. You could say they understood the whole Mosaic covenant that the Jews had lived under since the time of Moses, and perhaps this is one of the reasons why the recipients were considered Jewish believers, hence the title of the book Hebrews. Secondly, these believers had definitely heard the preaching of the Apostles, but they had never seen Jesus. Look at chapter 2 verses 3 and 4. Here we can assume that they had heard the Apostles.

It says, How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, that's Jesus, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs, wonders, and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. We know, for example, both Peter and Paul died in the city of Rome.

So there is a very good chance that these believers would have heard both Peter and Paul and would have seen their miraculous power. Number three, Hebrews also implies that the temple will still was still standing in Jerusalem. It's always important to keep some dates in your mind. For example, when did Jesus die? What year? We know he was born approximately 4 BC and that he died 30 AD.

Keep that in your mind. When was the temple destroyed? The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. So from the time Jesus died and rose until the destruction of the temple that Jesus prophesied would take place, it was a 40-year period. This letter was written sometime in between because as we read the book, it is clear that the temple is still standing.

Then number four, these believers had already experienced suffering, hardships, and persecution from the Roman government. Where do we see that? Look at chapter 10 and verse 32. Listen to what the writer says, but called a remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great fight of afflictions partly while you were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions and partly while you became companions of them that were so used for you had compassion of me and my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance.

Now what is he saying here? He's basically writing to these believers who had been persecuted by the Roman government in the city of Rome. And when would have that taken place?

Well we don't know exactly, but we do know this. Then in the year 49 AD the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome. And we see this when we read in the book of Acts chapter 18 where the Apostle Paul meets a couple named Priscilla and Aquila in the city of Corinth. And there they are and he meets them and in Acts it says that that they were in Corinth because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. In other words they were driven out by persecution. So the idea is that in chapter 10 verse 32 he's writing to these believers who had gone through some persecution for their faith.

They were publicly embarrassed and put to shame. And also if you were put into prison back in ancient times the prison did not feed you. You were only fed by people who came and gave you food. And if you came to give it a prisoner food it meant that you were identified with that prisoner. And so Christians who came to bring other Christians food in prison were actually persecuted for their supporting those prisoners.

That's what he's talking about here. So we know that these believers had experienced persecution. Number five, these believers were currently living in a very precarious time period. About 15 years had passed since the last persecution and it was now under the reign of a man named Nero. Nero became the emperor at the age of 17 years old in 54 AD. Nero was notorious for being a murderer.

And on July 18th 64 AD a fire erupted in the Circus Maximus and it burned down a good portion of the city. Nero was accused for giving order for the fire to be started and so in response he accused and blamed the Christians for the fire. And the Roman historian Tacitus gives an account as to what he did, Nero, to the believers in a book entitled Annals. And I quote, consequently to get rid of the report Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations called Christians by the populace. We know that they were nailed to crosses.

We know that they were sowed literally in the skins of animals and dogs came and ate them. And so they were going to go through this persecution and the point is this, Hebrews was written before these events actually had taken place. That's why most people believe that it was written somewhere around 63 to 64 AD. And then number six, in the setting we read that believers were starting to slip spiritually. We read in chapter 2 and verse 1, therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip. The idea of the word slipping is drifting away. It's like what happens when a boat is tied to a dock by a rope and yet the knot on the rope becomes unknowingly loose and the boat starts to drift away.

Or when a wife is washing her dishes in the kitchen sink and her diamond ring slips off her finger, it drops into the soapy water of the sink and then it's sucked away into the drain. The idea is this, that Jewish Christians were being tempted to fall away, perhaps to slip back into Judaism, especially since the temple was standing and they were being persecuted. Their life of faith was difficult and therefore the problem is that they could apostatize or they could fall away from the faith. And in every generation, every generation, there is always the temptation for professing Christians to slip away.

How would you know if you're slipping away? Many of you have grown up, especially in second and third generation Christian families. You've known of the Christian faith all of your life and now here you are in a Christian college and you're surrounded by it, but though it's around you it doesn't mean that it's necessarily inside of you. And the writer of Hebrews actually in a couple places gives us evidential signs of when people are slipping. For example, in chapter 10 he tells them to do some things, let us, and then he says for example, let us draw near with a true heart.

How do you know if you're slipping away? You've stopped drawing close to God. Then he says let us hold fast the confession of our faith. How do you know a person slipping away when they don't want to be publicly identified as a Christian?

They have a job, they work in a job, but they really don't want it to be known that they're a Christian. And then he says let us stir up one another to love and good works. How do you know that you're slipping when you're really not involved in serving? Because we're part of the body called the church and we're to serve in that church and so we are to be actively engaged in good works. How do you know that you're slipping?

It says when you neglect the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, when you begin to slip away from church where suddenly other things become priorities in your life. And there is no question to me that in my mind that one of the great struggles we have especially within our own student body is the problem of slipping away. We could call it worldliness.

We could, you could call it whatever you wanted it to call it. But a slipping is going away. And the reason why this book was written is to deal with the prevailing danger for Christians to become slack and fall away from the faith. This book was written as a spiritual antidote to fire us up to bring us back to God.

And that leads me to the second thing and that's the style. How was it written? Well it's definitely a letter but it reads more like a sermon. And in this sermon it's like a two beat rhythm of a song because the message has two basic ideas throughout the entire book and when you read it you can see it it's a back and forth kind of thing. The first beat you could say is a lofty exposition of Jesus Christ.

It's lifting Christ up. The second is a powerful exhortation to believers to be faithful. So it's an exposition Christ being lifted up and it's an exhortation.

It's a warning to all of us. So it begins with this lofty theological exposition of the person in the work of Jesus Christ. But at the same time he compares Christ to the Old Covenant and he uses a methodology in his writing that you you become familiar with. In Latin it's the rhetorical logic known as a fortiori.

It means to compare from the lesser to the greater. And he does this to enhance the person of Christ. He takes Christ and he shows how much better Christ is to something else and that something else is the Old Covenant. And that's the way he writes the book.

For example we see this in the very beginning. Look at chapter 1 in verse 1 of Hebrews and notice how he begins. God who at sundry times in diverse manners spake and time pass unto the fathers by the prophets.

What is he saying here? He is saying that the Old Testament was written at certain times and in certain ways by prophets. So we have 39 books of the Old Testament written over a period of some 1,500 years in different ways in dreams or God speaks directly or through these prophets. God spoke but notice he compares it in verse 2 to a new day. It says he hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son. And Jesus is the ultimate prophet, the greatest prophet. And then he tells us what the Son is like.

And look at what he says in verse 2. He says who me hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high being made so much better than the angels.

What does he do? He lifts Christ up and he tells us he is the Creator. He is the one who is that has the same exact character of God. He's God himself.

He controls all things. He cleanses us from our sin. And when you compare Christ to what the Old Covenant is like, there's no comparison. And so the exposition of Christ carries what we would say a definite wow factor.

That's the result. And he's writing to these people who are about to walk away from Christ and he lifts Christ up and he says he's so much greater. You have to be impressed with who Jesus is and what he has done. The wow factor. But then we come to the exhortational sections.

There's at least five of them. And if the expositional section has the wow factor, the exhortational section has the whoa factor. We see in chapters 1 and 2 that Christ, for example, is revealed to be better than the angels.

Christ is better than angels. Then we come to chapter 2 and he makes a stunning application in this and in the idea of a whoa factor. Look at chapter 2 and verse 1. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest any time we should let them slip. Now watch this. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast in every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward.

Stop there. What is he talking about? On Mount Sinai God gave the old covenant to Moses but it was mediated to Moses through angels because if God gave it to him directly he would have died. So the whole old covenant, so when we read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the whole old covenant was mediated to Moses through angels and when you read the old covenant if you violated the law there was very severe punishment. Okay, so you get that and everybody understood that.

Now watch what he says. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. What is he saying here? He's saying the degree of judgment for disobeying the law is far less than the degree of judgment for those who reject grace. In other words we all think the law is severe but what the writer of Hebrews is saying is this that the judgment on people for the rejection of Jesus Christ is far more severe than those who disobey the law.

That's the point that he's making. For example, what did Christ himself say to the cities where he performed his most miracles? What were those cities?

Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin. They had heard Jesus's words. They saw his miracles and Jesus warned them that their condemnation would be worse on the day of judgment than the heathen cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to what he says in Matthew 11 verse 20.

Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you and thou Capernaum which are exalted unto heaven.

Why? Because they had Jesus living in Capernaum. The Son of God lived there.

Listen to what it says. Shall be brought down to hell for the mighty works which have been done to thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. So what do we see? We see the woe factor. If the unbelieving and disobedient Old Testament believers suffer severely for their apostasy, what about us who fall away from Jesus Christ?

Let me just stop here. You've grown up in a Christian home. You've heard the Bible all of your life. You know the truth of Scripture. To whom much is given, much is what? Say it.

Required. Listen to me very carefully. If you walk away from Jesus Christ with all that has been given to you, your judgment on the Judgment Day will be far greater than those who've never had the privilege to hear the gospel. That's the woe factor. So what does Hebrews do? It lifts us up to theological heights and then it hurls us down to practical depths. What we see is the privilege of being a Christian today and the fearful judgment of falling away or falling into apostasy. There is great pressure on all of us today to be apathetic and to be worldly.

The Bible warns us that a man was with Paul named Demas and he forsook Paul because he loved the world. True faith is always faithful. We have to press on. We have to be persevering. We have to run the race.

And that's the challenge of the semester. May we run the race. Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the truth of Hebrews and help us Lord to be faithful, to persevere, to continue on in our faith.

In Jesus' name, Amen. You've been listening to a sermon from Hebrews 12 by Dr. Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University. For more information on Dr. Pettit's series, visit our website, thedailyplatform.com, where you can get a copy of Steve's study booklet entitled, Run the Race.

A Kindle version is also available. I'm Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University, and I invite you to join us at our beautiful campus in Greenville, South Carolina, to see how you can be prepared academically and spiritually to serve the Lord through one of our more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. For more information about Bob Jones University, visit www.bju.edu or call 800-252-6363. These daily programs are made possible by the many friends of Bob Jones University and this radio ministry. If you appreciate these programs and benefit from the faithful preaching and teaching of God's Word, would you consider sending us a special financial gift today? You can easily do that through the website, thedailyplatform.com, and then click on the Give button on the home page. Thanks again for listening. Join us again tomorrow as we study God's Word together on The Daily Platform.